Good Enough

Julian - Tours

Mia's eyes wander around the office before looking straight at me. Her eyes widen slightly in surprise, but she quickly recovers and starts to make her way towards me.

Foster laughs and puts his hand on my shoulder before whispering, "Damn, she's hot."

"Oh my god Foster. Shut up."  But I couldn't necessarily disagree with him. It's way different to see someone in running gear then in a an actual thought out outfit. And Mia's clearly dressed to impress today. She has a black shirt on with light wash skinny jeans, and her blonde hair hair tumbles down her shoulders in waves.

Sh stands in front of me and smiles. "So you weren't kidding about the instant friend thing? This is kind of creepy, no offense."

I try to smile a little at her, not sure if I make it look right. "Of course I wasn't kidding. I'm kind of your tour guide around here. You know, so that you're not wandering around all lost."

Mia nods before taking in the rest of the office. Our school isn't one of those state of the art, new modern schools, but it's pretty decent I'd say.

I point Mia to where she needs to get all her scheduling and stuff, and she does that while I wait for the other two kids to arrive. But only one does. Cole is no where to be seen.

Once they're both registered completely, we head out of the office, schedules in hand. I make the executive decision to drop Erin off first...her classroom is closer anyways.

Right. That's why. It's not that you want to spend time alone with Mia.

You know she'd never choose you. There's so many guys at this school and you'll never be a first choice for someone like her.

I clear my throat before pointing out the important buildings and begin talking over my own thoughts. "So that right there is the cafeteria. The food is the same as any other cafeteria, except we have a salad bar because we're healthy. Then we have the gym where all the volleyball and basketball games are held. You'll probably find me in there practicing with either of the teams during the week. Then past that is the football field and the track. You'll probably find me on the track too. I bounce between those two places a lot."

We move on and i nod my head at a some other buildings. "That's the foreign language building, the history building..."

I wrap up my tour quickly before dropping Erin off at her first class. Now it's just me and Mia.

"So you have history with Jones. I've heard that class is pretty easy, and he doesn't really care if you're on your phone or not."

"Thank god. I don't feel like doing that much work in the morning."

"Yeah, me neither, but unfortunately I have science. Mrs. Robins likes to give us a crap ton of work." I say.

The first bell rings, and I notice how empty the hallway is. Everyone's where they're supposed to be. I immediately feel like rushing to class. I don't even like science, but I hate having to make up assignments. But I still have to take Mia to her class.

That's an excuse and you know it. You're wasting time. Wasting time with a girl who's way it of your league. Think of all the work you're going to have to do. So much more than normal. You don't want that. Stop worrying about this girl and worry about your future. If you even have one.

I rub my temples and Mia gives me a worried glance.

"You okay there Julian?"

I put on my best smile. "Yeah, of course. I just didn't get much sleep last night."

Mia nods. "Yeah, me neither. It's kind of a miracle I woke up today." She pauses before asking. "What happened to your face?"

I tense up a little. Fucking Dad has to hit my face, where everyone can see. I try to brush it off with a laugh. "Oh that. Yeah, I was messing around with my brother. He got a good hit in."

I mentally exhale a sigh of relief when we reach her classroom. You never know when someone's gonna want to ask more questions.

"Well this is your classroom. You're excused for being late. And I better get going now."

"Oh, okay." Mia says, seeming a bit startled by my sudden rush to get rid of her. "Thanks so much."

It's rude to just leave like this. "What do you plan on doing at lunch?" I ask.

Mia shrugs and glances at the door behind her. "I dunno...sit somewhere I guess."

Or she could sit with me. But you have things to do. "Well, the offer of instant friendship with me is still redeemable at lunch. I'll usually be by the track, in the tables by there."

She nods slowly, seeming to actually consider my offer. "Okay, I'll think about it. Thanks again. I'll see you later I guess."

I smile a little and watch her slip into the room before dropping the smile. My head hurts like hell, and my whole face just hurts. I made up that excuse about my brother hitting me on the spot, but I guess thats my story for this time.

I touch my finger up to my face, immediately wincing in pain. It's not even just my eye, but my jaw and nose too.

But you deserve that, don't you? You deserve to have him beat you again tonight, for being so goddamn stupid all the time. Seriously, standing here thinking about what you can't change instead of going to class? Mateo would have never done something like this.

The voice is right. He wouldn't have. Which means I can't do it.

Stupid stupid stupid, I scold myself.

I break into a jog to my next class.